Quincy man carved out his own niche

A lifelong artist, Quincy native Bradford Vaughan used ivory and bone to carve intricately crafted figures and charms. He died July 18 at the age of 95, and his brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Philippa Vaughan of Quincy, are keeping within the family the hundreds of pieces he created.

By Jessica Trufant

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Jessica Trufant

Posted Jul. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 29, 2013 at 9:21 PM

By Jessica Trufant

Posted Jul. 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 29, 2013 at 9:21 PM

QUINCY

» Social News

Through his work as a cartoonist, Bradford Vaughan once criticized a museum for passing on to someone else donated pieces of art or artifact.

That’s why his brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Philippa Vaughan of Quincy, are keeping within the family the hundreds of detailed carvings he made from bone.

Turning bone into carvings can be traced back to the most primitive cultures, who used them for tools and ornamentation.

A Quincy native and lifelong artist, Vaughan was 95 when he died July 18.

“I would die if I picked out five or six of his best carvings and found out (a museum) sold them,” Philippa Vaughan said.

In April of 1998, The Patriot Ledger did a story on the then 80-year-old Vaughan, who became interested in carving when he saw someone in Provincetown doing scrimshaw – etching on a whale’s tooth.

Vaughan, who spent years working for Sun Newspapers in Ohio, decided to take up the art as a later-in-life hobby. He soon after became famous in the neighborhood as the man who sat and whittled.

“He started it late in life, and he did it up until a few years ago, when his arthritis got too bad,” Philippa Vaughan said as she held a small carving.

Peter Vaughan said carving was a kind of therapy for his brother, who used ivory boar tusks, soup bones or anything else he could get his hands on.

“People were fascinated by it. He used to do it at South Station (in Boston), and it always attracted people,” he said. “Anytime you see someone sitting and whittling something, you want to know what they’re doing and why.”

Some of the intricately crafted figures and charms Bradford Vaughan made took as many as 600 hours to finish, yet he never sold his creations.

Peter Vaughan favors a simpler piece – a carving of a polar bear and its cub.

“I love it. It’s ivory and you can identify what’s on it,” he said, holding the carving.

Vaughan patterned most of his carvings on the art of the Haida Tlingit Indians, who live in Alaska and British Columbia – but not intentionally. He told The Patriot Ledger in 1998 that he was not aware of the similarity until a curator from the Cleveland Museum of Fine Art pointed it out.